


The Greatest Game on Earth

by SpockST



Category: N/A - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 22:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18040403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpockST/pseuds/SpockST
Summary: What happens when a single player becomes better in a hi-tech game than anyone in the history of the game by a wide margin?





	The Greatest Game on Earth

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This came to me in the early hours of the morning as I lay in bed drifting between deep sleep and full awakening. Fortunately I remembered enough that I was able to write most of it down immediately upon finally realizing I remembered what I had dreamed. Hope you enjoy. I have added information so that what was obvious to me in my dream would make sense to anyone who was not there ...

## The Game:

Gravity Hockey became popular when the Gravity Pulse Guns and the Carbon nanotube covered iridium steel pucks were developed almost simultaneously. It had a short, but very explosive growth in popularity until the last exhibition game was played in 2145, between the North American Eagles and the European Union Badgers.

Prior to the main game, a couple of local teams had been hired to play a short warm up to keep the enormous crowd occupied while the main teams got suited up. Normally, an exhibition game required some serious equipment if anyone was expected to live through it, due to the high speeds the ‘puck’ developed during play.

The playing field was a rough oval of about 2,000 meters by 600 meters with goals on the ground at each end. The spectator stands on each side were protected by fine mesh carbon nanotube steel netting, but it wasn’t entirely unknown for a particularly energetically blasted puck to break through the net and kill one or more spectators. If this happened, the team of the last player to interact with the puck was penalized ten points per fatality and five for each person injured. The spectator who ended up holding the puck was awarded 50,000 credits and declared the hero of the game. Due to the high energy and the insane level of radiation present on the playing field, the spectator sides were shielded with Battleship level energy suppressors, though this wasn’t enough to stop the stray errant puck that still managed to break through the netting.

High in the middle of each spectator side were small, heavily armored judges' boxes. Since no sensible person would willingly risk their life to be a referee in the air between the two teams, a system had been worked out where three neutral judges on each side of the field could use their high-tech displays and sensors to call out fouls and penalty points. It wasn’t uncommon for the armored glass in the box to get cracked at least once during a game. This didn’t bother the judges, though, because the glass was only there for the spectators. It was covered by heavy armor plate on the inside since none of the systems used required actually visually seeing anything that happened.

Above and below the Judges' boxes were variously sized ‘targets’. When hit with a gravity pulse from one of the player's guns, it caused a high energy charge to travel up the beam as if it were a conduit and over-charge the player's system. For a short period, measured in minutes, the player had more energy at their disposal. The smaller targets supplied increasingly more power because they were harder to hit. All the targets counteracted any targeting systems; to hit a target, a player had to have really good manual aim. Most of the pucks that had gone through the spectator defenses had been due to super-charged players.

Gravity Guns that could fire extremely short, but powerful bursts of gravity waves were used to blast the puck in, hopefully, the direction they wanted it to go. Each time the puck was knocked into the scoring box, the team responsible got 200 points. If something was used to deflect the puck in its normal trajectory, a variety of points were added, depending upon how complex the resultant trajectory had been. The highest to date had been given for a three-point ricochet against strategically situated team members. This had earned the team an additional 3,000 points.

Usually, a game was played for a set period of time, but the exhibition game was to be played “To-The-Death”, which meant that the game would go on until one of the Captains was just too tired to keep playing. The warm-up game was scheduled to last an hour.

There was a goalie, whose only job was to keep the puck out of the small, three-meter by two-meter scoring box. To help, the goalie was heavily armored in carbon nanotube covered plate iridium steel mail with an extra thick chest plate, two shields of titanium steel to deflect any incoming puck. These were the only players with any actual physical mobility because they often had to be on the ground weaving back and forth trying to make sure no one managed to ‘sink-the-puck’.

There were two Rangers, whose main job was to keep the opposing team confused by basically using the puck to attack them. Their armor was a solid, carbon nanotube cylinder of the highest grade titanium steel they could afford because everyone was trying to attack them. They used internal gravity controls to maneuver their external Gravity Guns.

Then there were three Scouts. Their job was simply to be as close to the net as possible so they could use their guns to blast any opportune near misses of the scoring box into scores.

The last member of the team was the Captain. Some felt this was the least important position, as the Captain simply orbited the field at a low altitude of about 500 meters and tried to give the rest of his team some idea where the puck was located and some kind of unifying tactics. For such a fast game, this was almost impossible. The Captain wore a triple layer, spherical globe of basic carbon nanotube armor. There were four Gravity Guns controlled by the suit’s internal control console, but they were almost an afterthought, as the Captain was never really meant to actively take part in the game. The armor was meant to protect the Captain when their opponents took the almost expected pot-shot at them trying to confuse the team. Most of the space was taken up with super-speed tracking systems linked to displays that kept track of the puck and all players at all times. If the Captain of the losing team ever touched the ground, the game was instantly called and the score proclaimed at that time. It had become a popular pastime for teams to try to knock the opposing Captain from the sky when they had a slight lead.

There was a phenomenon that had developed in regards to the players of the game. Probably due to the esoteric energies used, some players had recently spontaneously exhibited unusually sharp reflexes and coordination. This was called ‘Sync’ and players who ‘Synced’ were actively sought out by all teams, because they typically retained their abilities from then on.

 

## The two exhibition teams:

The North American Eagles were all ex-military commando survivors of the near-Earth War of 2130. They were deemed to have an advantage because they were using neural interfaces directly to their suit controls since many of them had been severely injured during the war.

The European Union Badgers were a surprise victor of the just played European tournament. They had somehow managed to defeat every other European team to gain their spot in the current game. Many speculated that they were using some kind of, soon to be illegal, aid in play, but, so far, no one had been able to find out how they had been so spectacularly successful. Their fans just said they were that good.

 

## The warm-up teams:

The South American Mayans were a mixed group of veterans and local talent. They had placed well in the games leading up to the exhibition game, but not well enough to be able to play in the actual game itself. Though disappointed, they were at least sure they would put on a great warm-up show for the fans.

The North American Fools were a pick-up team of complete unknowns. No one expected them to win in such a spectacular fashion that no subsequent game was ever able to compete. This ultimately led to the game being discontinued. It didn’t hurt that spectator deaths had been on a steady rise in recent years.

 

## The North American Fools:

“And why would I even want to play in this stupid game?” asked Jake Truman of his recent friend, Sal Norris. Sal was called ‘The Sweeper’ by his close friends because he was so good at ‘sweeping the puck’ away from his goal. He had Synced many years ago but had been able to hide it from the recruiters as he wasn’t interested in playing professionally.

“Because we only need a body to play Captain. Most of us are unregistered ‘Syncs’ and just need you to orbit up high to make us look legitimate.”

“Alright,” sighed Jake. “I wasn’t really doing anything this afternoon. What were you hoping to accomplish? It’s just a warm-up game.”

“They are offering seven million Credits to the winning team and seventy thousand to the losing team. We plan to win.”

“Alright! You can count on me to ‘look’ as good as I can while I’m there. I could use a little notoriety around work. None of the women there will even give me a second glance.”

“When we win this, you should be able to quit work if you want to. Come on, I need to collect two more players before we go to the stadium.”

\---oooOOOooo---

Jake had finally been stuffed into the Captain’s armor. It wasn’t too uncomfortable, not too much different from being in his den playing 3D video games. Instead of having to stand and move around, though, he had to use the suit thrusters. He and Sal had been joined by a Ranger and a Scout. The rest of the players were already at the stadium.

“You alright in there?” asked Sal.

“Yeah, the controls are a little archaic, but not that hard to use. I would have preferred a 3D interface, but there just isn’t room in here to stand, much less move around. Not that I could move much anyway since I’m tightly strapped into the seat. Did you have to strap my arms down to the console?”

“It’s for your protection. If they get a puck past us to hit you, you could break an arm if they weren’t solidly attached to the suit. For long games, I find the waste reclamation systems really uncomfortable. At least we don’t have to worry about that here.

“Sorry, we couldn’t afford the best equipment for you, but your position is just for show anyway. Just keep alert enough to avoid the puck and look like you’re trying to control the game. Me and the rest will soon get you your reward.”

\---oooOOOooo---

When the game started, Jake was too busy trying to maintain some kind of reasonable control. This suit was more complicated than it had first appeared! He could hear sonic booms from the supersonic puck as the two teams hit it back and forth.

He watched as Sal successfully defended their goal just seconds into the game. Then the two Rangers started batting the puck back and forth at really high speed. It just happened that almost every time, there was an opponent between them.

Finally, they got tired of playing and suddenly the puck was at the Maya’s goal. They had scored one minute into the game! Jake hadn’t seen it, but the puck had actually ricocheted off one of their Scouts before going in.

“Jake, watch out for the Mayans. It appears they have some kind of new electronic control that allows them to more carefully control where the puck goes. We almost didn’t make that score, it was really luck that Sanchez was where he was so the puck could bounce off him to score.”

“How do you know all this,” asked a confused Jake.

“We have some added electronics of our own, mostly sensors, but a few added shields as well. You’ve got an extra shield in your suit, so you should be safe enough.”

Famous last words! Not five minutes later, Jake’s suit rang like a bell as the puck glanced off his suit and headed for the Fools goal. Of all the luck! They were not only trying to make him nervous but were hoping to make a goal as well using him as an intermediary!

Sal easily ‘swept’ the puck back into play and the game continued. Unnoticed by anyone, Jake’s suit had a slight ding just over a newly installed electronics suite.

Suddenly two things happened, seemingly simultaneously. The puck was once more headed for Jake, and he seemed to spasm inside his suit.

Jake’s suit jerked to one side as the puck headed for where he had been, but Jake wasn’t out of trouble yet. His fingers convulsed onto the controls and all four of his Gravity Guns fired at the targets near the judges' boxes ... and repeatedly hit! Jakes system was becoming so supercharged, small coronas of energy could be seen discharging into the surrounding atmosphere.

After hitting all but one of the smaller targets, Jake had another seizure and his suit swiveled sharply towards the Fool’s goal and all four guns discharged at once, at full power, to hit the puck that was just then passing through where he had been.

The puck had been blasted with so much energy that it traveled in an almost straight geometric line towards one corner of the spectators' enclosure. Fortunately, it was high enough that it just hit the top-side support in passing. It hit hard enough, though, that the entire stand shook and the structure was physically warped.

Gameplay came to a halt as the Judges frantically tried to track the puck. Finally, it passed out of sight, still going in a straight line, getting closer and closer to the surface of the Earth.

\---oooOOOooo---

## The Aftermath:

“What’s all this stuff, Grandpa Jake?” asked Jake’s oldest grandson, who was visiting with his parents for the day.

“This room is dedicated to the one and only game of Gravity Hockey I ever played,” replied Jake. “Want me to tell you about it?”

“Yeah,” said the wide-eyed teen as he looked at his grandfather in a new light. Everyone heard about how dangerous Gravity Hockey was, but no one played anymore, so all he had ever heard were second and third-hand stories and rumors. His mother wouldn’t even allow him to talk about it at home!

Jake walked over to what looked like a crushed cardboard tube. “This is the section of the spectator stands that the puck I hit with my gravity guns first contacted. It not only shook the entire stand, but it also warped the structure enough that a young man looking for a hidden place to take his girl couldn’t open the door he was trying to open at the time. If they had managed to even open the door, they would have been burnt to a cinder from all the energy released from me shooting so many targets above and below the Judge's box. When the officials found out about what had happened, I was awarded a million credits for saving two young lives. It didn’t hurt that the girl’s father was the Director of Sports for America.”

They walked over to the next exhibit, a knife that looked like it was rusted, even though any visible metal was bright and shiny. “This is the knife used by an infamous mass murderer. After being deflected on a new trajectory, the puck got so close to the ground that it passed through the woman’s neck. The puck wasn’t even affected, not so the other woman present, who was already injured and about to be killed. When it was found out that I had ‘inadvertently’ killed ‘Jane, the Ripper’, I was given the fifty million credit reward and met your grandmother for the first time.”

They walked over to the next exhibit, which looked like a dinged side-panel to an anti-grav car. “This is a piece from the Passenger Liner Juneau that had developed a thrust problem and was rapidly exiting Earth’s atmosphere. Everyone on board would have died of asphyxiation before anyone could have reached them, but evidently the puck, having now risen high above the curve of the Earth again, impacted the side of the liner in just the right place to reseat a critical piece of electronics that had come loose due to negligent maintenance. I saved five thousand people and received the gratitude of the nation as well as five billion credits from the appreciative passengers, crew, and owners of the Cruise Line.”

They walked past several odd looking, mangled pieces of metal and went right to the last exhibit, a yellow helmet with a black and silver Gravity Puck embedded in the back. “The rest of these are just various pieces of junk the puck hit that helped increase my final score, as determined by a careful examination of the Earth Defense Sensor Array. This last one is my favorite, though,” said Jake to his by now over-awed grandson. “By now, the puck had lost a lot of its energy and had changed course minutely many times. Most of it was lost when it hit the Passenger Liner, but more was lost in other various and sundry objects you saw earlier as it hit them along the way, until it had ultimately traveled all the way around the Earth.

“I was fighting with my suit, but just couldn’t seem to gain control. From where I was, I could see a growing crowd of what looked like police vehicles arriving with at least one ambulance. Your grandmother had insisted she meet the man who had saved her life. The med-techs were called over to the Mayan’s goal where their Goalie had mysteriously collapsed just before I blasted him back into the goal.

“As my suit finally allowed me to land, nearby, everyone started genuflecting to me. It was really odd finally landing in a circle of prone bodies all pointed towards me. When I finally got out of my suit, I found out why. The puck had finally come to rest in the back of the helmet of the Maya’s goalie, knocking him out. When my gravity guns fired for the last time, they knocked him, with puck attached back into their goal box, giving us our second goal of the game.

“As a last coincidence, the arriving police recognized the goalie as an escaped criminal who had been hiding, hoping to avoid recapture. My team's goal of 1,200 points combined with my finally computed ultimate goal of 20,200 points plus an additional 50,030 points for saving lives during play that my team was declared the winner.

“For some reason, no one seemed interested in the scheduled game after what I had done. My friend Sal told me I could write my own ticket if I became a professional player because I had ‘Synced' whatever that was. After I learned how much money I was personally going to get, I immediately hired Sal and the rest of the team as my bodyguards and asked your grandmother if she would be interested in marrying a socially awkward gamer.

“For some reason, she said ‘yes’.

 

 


End file.
